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Texas Instruments slumps 8.1% on weak Q4 outlook
Texas Instruments shares slumped more than 8% in after-hours trading on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) after the company forecast fourth-quarter revenue and profit below Wall Street expectations, citing ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty stemming from United States tariffs and the escalating trade dispute with China. The semiconductor manufacturer reported third-quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $1.48, narrowly below market expectations of $1.49, while revenue came in at US$4.74 billion, topping forecasts of $4.65 billion. The disappointing guidance overshadowed the modest revenue beat, sending Texas Instruments (NASDAQ: TXN) stock down 8.1% in after-hours trading. The shares are now down 4.5% year-to-date. For the fourth quarter, the company expects revenue between $4.22 billion and $4.58 billion, compared with market estimates of $4.51 billion, according to data from LSEG. It also projected earnings per share in the range of $1.13 to $1.39, below expectations of $1.41 per share. President and CEO Haviv Ilan said the company’s operational cash flow remains robust despite the challenging backdrop. “Our cash flow from operations of $6.9 billion for the trailing 12 months again underscored the strength of our business mode
Tech
Will AI return in spades or is it a gigantic money pit?
Despite mounting fears that the artificial intelligence (AI) investment bubble is deflating and that revenues are too low to justify their investment, Goldman Sachs analysis suggests these claims are far from the truth. Goldman believes the gains would far outstrip cumulative AI investment forecasts and that’s even before considering cross-border profits, new profit pools, or breakthroughs toward artificial general intelligence (AGI). The bank believes AI-driven productivity could generate a US$8 trillion present-discounted value in additional capital revenue for the U.S. economy alone, with potential outcomes ranging from $5 trillion to as high as $19 trillion. Capex demandsAccording to a report released by Bain late last month, what’s compounding the unprecedented scale of AI investments is the need for global electricity supply to grow by 20% by 2030 to supply the extra energy needed by data centres. In the U.S. alone, new data centres are expected to require around US$500 billion (A$769.4 billion) of capital investment annually. To fund the capital expenditure for new data centres alone, AI companies are going to need to find an extra $US2 trillion ($3 trillion) in annual revenue. While valuations in the sector
Tech
Dutch government takes control of China-owned chipmaker
In a bid to safeguard the European supply of semiconductors for cars and other electronic goods and protect the region’s economic security, the Dutch government has taken control of Nexperia, a Chinese-owned chipmaker based in the Netherlands. The Hague said it has intervened in Dutch-headquartered Nexperia - which manufactures chips for cars and consumer electronics - due to "serious governance shortcomings" and to prevent the chips from becoming unavailable in an emergency. While Nexperia is not owned by the Chinese government, the Dutch government is understood to have cited worries about the possible transfer of technology to Nexperia’s Chinese parent company, Wingtech. Meanwhile, the privately run Wingtech has vowed to take action to protect its rights, which may include seeking government support. The development has escalated tensions between the European Union and China, which have increased in recent months over trade and Beijing's relationship with Russia. This is the first time foreign governments have taken issue with Wingtech. In December 2024, the U.S. government placed Wingtech on its so-called "entity list" for its alleged role in aiding China’s government’s efforts to acquire entities with sensit
Tech
Apple acquires talent, tech from AI startup Prompt
Tech giant Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is understood to be strengthening its HomeKit ambitions by acquiring the “talent and technology” of Prompt AI, a computer vision company started in 2023. The acquisition underpins Apple’s continued strategy of quietly buying smaller artificial intelligence (AI) startups to enhance specific product capabilities, in this case, computer vision for smart home devices. The acquisition also aligns with Apple’s growing ambitions in home automation, especially through its HomeKit platform. Apple is understood to be developing its first proprietary home security camera, which is expected to rival Amazon’s Ring lineup. Equipped with facial recognition and infrared sensors, the camera aims to identify individuals and detect activity with enhanced privacy controls. What has attracted Apple to Prompt AI is the technology used in its Seemour app, which includes algorithms that not only recognise objects and faces but can also generate textual summaries of recorded activity and respond to user queries. These capabilities could soon find their way into Apple’s smart displays and hubs. Prompt AI plans to shut down the Seemour app and delete user data to maintain privacy compliance before the a
Tech
Deloitte deploys Anthropic's Claude to 470,000 staff
Big four consultancy Deloitte has committed to deploying Anthropic's Claude across its entire global workforce of more than 470,000 employees spanning 150 countries. It's the AI startup's largest enterprise deployment since its founding four years ago, and the expanded partnership builds on an alliance first struck in July 2024. Neither company disclosed financial terms, though Anthropic's chief commercial officer, Paul Smith, told CNBC both firms are investing heavily in the partnership through direct capital and engineering resources dedicated to the rollout. Deloitte will establish a Claude Center of Excellence staffed with specialists developing implementation frameworks and providing technical support to move AI pilots into production at scale. It will also co-create a certification program to train 15,000 professionals on Claude for internal and client deployments. The firm plans to deploy different Claude "personas" tailored to specific roles over the coming months, from accountants analysing financial structures to developers writing production code. Ranjit Bawa, Deloitte's global technology and ecosystems leader, said the internal deployment serves dual purposes - boosting productivity whilst positioning

Tech
Why infrastructure stocks have become AI boom's winners
When Nvidia announced a US$100 billion investment in OpenAI on 22 September, Wall Street erupted in applause. What they missed: that same money flows straight back to Nvidia as chip purchases. It's the most elegant circular financing scheme in modern history. And it's making infrastructure investors extraordinarily rich while everyone else chases the AI dream. While venture capitalists place billion-dollar bets on which AI startup will dominate, private equity firms have doubled down on a safer play - the picks and shovels. Data centres. Power plants. Steel and concrete. The assets every AI company needs, regardless of who wins. "In some ways, it's like selling shovels to people looking for gold," Jon Mauck, Senior Managing Director and Head of Data Centre Investment Strategy at DigitalBridge, told Pitchbook in January 2025. "I don't know who is going to find gold or be the largest AI platform, but whoever is doing anything in that world needs an environment, i.e. a data centre, to deploy it." That realisation is reshaping global capital flows.King-making data centre growth"This is the biggest AI infrastructure project in history," Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC when announcing Nvidia's OpenAI partnership.
Tech
AI bonanza drives OpenAI’s H1 FY25 revenue up 16%
The rapid expansion of its flagship product, ChatGPT, saw AI giant OpenAI generate US$4.3 billion (A$6.5 billion) in revenue for the first six months of 2025, up around 16% on 2024. As of August, the chatbot had 700 million weekly users, four times the number it had at the same time last year. Due to its research and development costs for developing artificial intelligence and for running ChatGPT, OpenAI told the market it burned $2.5 billion, with costs soaring to $6.7 billion for the division during the first half of 2025. At the end of the first six months of the year, OpenAI had around $17.5 billion in cash and securities and plans to generate $13 billion in annual revenue this year, while total cash burn for the year is expected to reach $8.5 billion. Last week, OpenAI announced plans to build a network of five AI data centres over the next three years at a projected cost of $400 billion, while AI chipmaker Nvidia announced plans to invest up to US$100 billion in OpenAI to build additional new data centres. While OpenAI was valued at $300 billion in March, the company is understood to be in early-stage talks to administer a stock sale that could value the company at $500 billion. OpenAI makes money from seve
Tech
Oracle names cloud infrastructure heads as new co-CEOs
Oracle has named its cloud infrastructure presidents Clay Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia as co-CEOs, as the company’s cloud and artificial intelligence offerings drive a major surge in its share price. Magouyrk and Sicilia will continue to expand Oracle’s AI products, the company said. Oracle Outgoing CEO Safra Catz has been named executive vice chair, and Larry Ellison will continue as board chair and chief technology officer. “Humanity is investing enormous resources in the race to advance Artificial Intelligence. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure is playing a major part in that effort,” said Ellison. “A few years ago, Clay and Mike committed Oracle’s Infrastructure and Applications businesses to AI—it’s paying off,” Ellison said. “Oracle’s future is bright.” Magouyrk was at Amazon Web Services before joining Oracle in 2014, and co-founded Oracle’s cloud engineering team. Sicilia was formerly president of Oracle Industries, and joined Oracle with its acquisition of Primavera Systems in 2008. Catz was named co-CEO in 2014 alongside Mark Hurd after Ellison left the role, and became sole CEO after Hurd’s death in 2019. Oracle’s share price spiked by over 30% this month after its earnings report disclosed remaining performanc
Tech
Paypal sides with Google for new AI shopping agent
PayPal's shares spiked 3% in late trading Wednesday after the digital payments giant announced it's jumping into bed with Google to integrate AI agents buying stuff on your behalf. The multi-year strategic alliance positions both companies at the epicentre of what industry insiders are calling "agentic commerce" - essentially letting AI loose with your credit card whilst you sit back and watch Netflix.Autonomous spendingThe collaboration spans four pillars: Creating AI shopping experiencesEmbedding PayPal across Google's ecosystemProcessing payments for Google's enterprise platforms Modernising PayPal's infrastructure on Google CloudBut the real meat is Google's Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) - an open standard developed with over 60 global partners that's designed to let AI agents transact securely without human intervention. Think of it as the transit code for robot shoppers, complete with cryptographically-signed "mandates" that prove you actually authorised your AI butler to buy that third coffee machine. The protocol requires two-step verification: an "intent mandate" that tells the AI what you're looking for, followed by a "cart mandate" for final approval. AP2 supports everything from traditional cards to stablec